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Police Hold Line on Parking
by Richard Carrington
Student concerns over parking tickets, ticket prices, and even the ticket writers have dominated various meetings of student officers over the last several weeks.
The saga began when David Ingram, Chief of Campus Police, was bombarded by questions during a recent Student Government Association senate meeting.
One student asked whether ticket writers actually had a quota to meet. "There has never been a quota for our ticket writers. I don't know where that thought came from," said Ingram. "However, we do tell them to go out and write tickets because it shows that they're actually working."
Office Manager of Campus Police Jan Caldwell added during an interview, "We've caught ticket writers in the Lions Den, the library, and even playing pool, so encouraging them to write tickets is a way to make sure they're working. Generally, there are about eight parking violations per hour, so we expect ticket writers to be close to that number."
Aside from reports of ticket writers shirking their duties, some students question the competence of their pen-powerful peers.
"Ticket writers make mistakes like everyone else, so I don't understand why their word should be absolute," said sophomore Jack Riggins. "I've seen people ticketed for parking in the staff lot after 8:00 PM. I've seen people ticketed where there are no non-parking signs, or the blue or yellow lines have become too faded to see. I know the ticket writers are just doing their job, but there are a lot of factors that can lead to them making judgment mistakes."
There will always be complaints when ticket writing is involved, said Dean Craig Goforth. "We can't pass judgment if we're not there, so the ticket writers must be given the benefit of the doubt. There will always be inconsistencies as long as personalities are involved."
Caldwell noted that every one of the ticket writers has signed an agreement to ticket everyone fairly. "In fact, there was a case last semester where a ticket writer ticketed one of her own sorority sisters. Needless to say, her sister wasn't pleased, but we ask our ticket writers to be fair and honest."
Parking tickets are necessary to enforce traffic laws, but many students feel that the prices are ridiculously high.
"Ticket prices are way too high," commented junior Brian Davis. "I'm from a major city, and parking tickets there are half of what we get charged here."
The Mars Hill penalties range from $5 (failure to affix parking sticker) to $35 (parking in a fire lane). However, a single ticket can be high if it includes multiple violations. For example, one driver received an $80 ticket for parking in a fire lane ($35), blocking someone else ($20), and being in the wrong parking zone ($25).
Many students don't realize that SGA set the current ticket prices a decade ago.
"When I was chief in 1990, the fines were very small. The most expensive fine was $10," stated Goforth. "Students asked for ticket prices to be increased so freshmen wouldn't park on the hill."
Since becoming Chief in 1997, Ingram says he has never negotiated ticket prices. Although he does make recommendations, Goforth and advisors set the prices.
The amount for parking fines will probably never be reduced as long as violators continue to break the parking laws. "The violators are a very small percentage of students," Goforth said.
According to Ingram, some students have accumulated more than $1000 in tickets. "More than three tickets and we can stop a student from driving on campus by suspending his or her license, booting the vehicle, or having it towed."
During an interview in early November, Ingram commented that he'd rather put tickets on the students' bills and let them sort it out with their parents. However, in a later e-mail on November 19, he announced that "Campus Police is now booting vehicles for unpaid violations. We will be contacting all those with unpaid tickets, giving priority to those with the most violations."
Some violators think they're exempt from paying tickets if their vehicle is not registered with campus police. Not so, said Caldwell. "People think they won't have to pay tickets if their car isn't registered with the college. They ignore the tickets and then act surprised when they see the tickets come up on their bill. They don't realize that we run the tags of non-registered violators."
Goforth said violators are usually well equipped with Die Hard car batteries. "Ten-minute parking is great for loading and unloading, or just bringing groceries up to your dorm room. There's a need for ten-minute parking, but people abuse it by staying there for hours with their flashers on."
Caldwell added, "Most people get tickets because of either laziness or stubbornness."
Despite ticket upon ticket for repeated violations, some students believe they can dodge paying by getting their ticket appeals granted. According to Caldwell, that is easier said than done.
"Getting an appeal granted is circumstantial. 'I didn't know,' is the response of many violators," Caldwell said. "When we issue so many documents that spell out parking regulations, pleading ignorance just isn't enough to grant an appeal."
Ingram stated, "There's really no excuse. At the beginning of the semester, every student is issued a Mars Hill College Handbook, which includes parking regulations. If that's not enough, every student receives a parking regulation sheet when they pick up their parking decal."
At the aforementioned SGA meeting, many students wondered how much money ticket writing produced, and exactly what that money went to.
"We tend to bring in about $50,000 a year from ticketing,'' said Ingram. That money goes into the school's general fund, not into the Campus Police yearly budget. In fact, "we'd prefer that there were no tickets," Ingram said, noting that ticket writing does come out of the Campus Police budget.
"I'd like to have a better solution [to parking problems]," Ingram said, "but if you didn't ticket, there would be constant complaints about people parking in their spots." And, he added, "$50,000 can't buy a new parking lot."
However, $50,000 would be a good start toward creating a new parking lot. "It might be a good idea to start a fund from the money brought in by ticket writing," said Goforth. "That money could then go to a new parking lot."
That's just one solution, but students and college officials have a few more. "The parking lot below the chapel can fit a lot of cars, but very few people use it," stated Goforth. "I'd love for a well-represented committee of students to walk the campus and decide where they'd like the parking lots to be."
SGA has recently formed a committee to deal with parking issues. SGA Chaplain Denisha Kirk will chair the committee comprised of student leaders and Goforth.
The parking committee has already had success achieving its first objective. During the November 20 Student Affairs meeting, the intra-campus violation was removed from parking tickets.
This decision pleases students and staff who have complained about the repetitiveness of the intra-campus and improper zone violations. Both violations mean that a person cannot park outside of his or her designated parking area.
"I'm in favor of removing the intra-campus violation from parking tickets," said Goforth.
"We should have to pay the fine for the appropriate violation," said sophomore Chris Kingston. "But it becomes outrageous when you add violation upon violation on the same ticket."
One goal has been achieved. However, the main parking concerns are in the lots where the most tickets are given.
"The majority of our complaints and violators come from Women's Hill," said Ingram. "However, in the past we've had problems with Moore Auditorium, Fox Dorm, and Ponder Field parking lots.
"There are enough parking spaces to accommodate every vehicle on campus, but we choose not to have assigned parking spaces as at most state-run institutions."
Knowing that Mars Hill does not plan to have assigned parking spaces, there have already been a few ideas about improving parking on Women's Hill. The first idea would be to turn all parking in front of Huffman and Stoup Dorms into loading and unloading zones. Then you create a well-lit walkway, or even a road, from Fox up to Huffman. Ingram has said that he's in favor of parking modifications on Women's Hill, and Goforth feels the same way. In fact, he has a solution of his own.
"I'd love to see a nice parking lot between Edna Moore and the church, and it would probably cost around $100,000," said Goforth. "And when I say a nice parking lot, I mean that it needs to be eye pleasing and environmentally pleasing."
The parking problem is on-going, but now students and staff are working together to correct the problem.
"I encourage students to put suggestions in writing and pass it on to an SGA representative or myself, or students can feel free to attend Student Affairs meetings, which meet every third Wednesday of the month," said Goforth. "The only way to make a change is to attend these meetings and voice your opinion. We're not far from a solution, but I want student input."
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